A Tale of Two Stars
by Numbuh six-sixtysix
Summary: What would happen if the Imperium of Man entered the Spore Galaxy? Read on to find out. *CANCELLED DUE TO FANDOM DISASSOCIATION*
1. How to make an Entrance in the Galaxy

**Chapter 1: How to make an Entrance in the Galaxy**

Okay, so I've had this idea for a while, and my friend finally got sick of me telling him about it and told me to go write it. So now we have a Warhammer 40k and Spore fanfic. Starring my puny interstellar empire and allied galactic haegemony and the mighty Imperium of Man. Of course, this being Spore, it would take me far too long to describe in adequate detail the centre-pieces of my story, namely, the units and structures of the Draconis Rex (my) Empire. So I decided to tell you where to see my creations; www.(insert webaddress here). Com. However, if you can't find it, don't worry, there will be a highly inadequate description for all of you to enjoy. Oh, and just in case you don't notice, I am only familiar with what is in the Dawn of War games, and what I have gleaned from other fanfics, so don't flame me just for being inaccurate.  
Finally: I do not own Warhammer or Spore. Those honours belong to Games Workshop and Maxis respectively.  
Now on with the fic!

It was a bad day for the commander of the latest Great Crusade. General Halcon had been expecting to merely find remains of long dead Terran colonies, with perhaps a few ork-infested ruins to sift through, and hopefully a few Xenos ships to make the tiresome trek out to this galaxy worth it.  
Instead, he had found a spiral galaxy, much like the one he had left months earlier, which was teeming with enough life to make the C'tan drool. And every race he had encountered had had its own empire, which he had ruthlessly crushed, of course, and a lot of the planets had very similar species on. Almost like someone had gone round and terraformed them, with but a single source.....But that wasn't what was the problem. Whilst working their way through the empires of this galaxy, the assigned Inquisition ship had turned up facts referred to in almost every empire. Tales of a hideous machine race called the Grox, who appeared to be much acquainted with Necron ideals, and who seemed to like the centre of the galaxy. And tales of the 'Omnipotent' and much feared Draconis Rex. The latter, it seemed were feared due to their method of conquering, or buying all the empires near to them, and then using their might to threaten all others into doing as they said.

Fortunately, the Grox patrols they had encountered had been truly unimaginative affairs. A sleek ship, with four prongs at the front, and a smaller one for its fighter cousins. They were destroyed by heavy bombardment almost before they came within sensor range. When they had retrieved a live one, they had found it to be a Sentient Machine. Banned since the revolt of the Iron Men, the abomination had been destroyed, but not before the Inquisition had resorted to executing the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus who were caught 'just wandering the ship, looking for repairs' suspiciously close to where it was held.

No, what had caused General Halcon much grief was the events that had been put in motion by the appearance of what, according to scanners, was an object travelling faster than light, and, when it dropped into normal space, actually turned out to be some kind of boat. It was a black boat, with gold leaf, numerous cannons pointing forwards, some kind of engine array to the side, and, strangest of strange, what, if his memory was correct, appeared to be flashing lights on top of the bridge. The sudden, and unusually strange ship, showed no signs of the Taint, much as the rest of this galaxy seemed to, and so, for no other reason than to alleviate his boredom, he had allowed the thing to open a comm. Channel. Oh, how the poor General regretted that decision now. But then, he had been brought face to, er, face, with a creature strange enough to cause even the Blood Ravens Battle Barge to power up main weapons.

What had appeared on screen was what appeared to be bird of sorts. It had a jetpack on, they saw when it turned to shout, presumably, at the comms. Officer. When it faced them again, they looked and saw a huge, curving beak, perfect for eating meat, giant talons on its...hands, sort of, that were just the thing for rending flesh, large lumps on its knees, which oozed some sort of viscous fluid, and most notably, on its face, either side of its beak, huge, slimy tentacles.

What happened then, was the creature emitted a foul screeching similar to that of a hawk, or some such, but horrifically alien at the same time. Then the universal translator kicked in.  
"Strangers, we welcome you to our galaxy. Know that the mighty Draconis Rex Empire will provide for you all that you desire. In return, all we ask is that we might know our guests."  
"You, foul Xenos, will most assuredly provide us with what we desire. What we desire, is to see all alien scum ridded from the universe, and the mighty Imperium of Man to rule the stars unchallenged!" Came the reply from an over enthusiastic Commissar.  
The Rex physically stepped back from the camera, as if to avoid the Commissar's stinging fury.  
"Oh...I see......"  
Before the fleet could even attempt to target lock, the small boat had turned tail and fled. But not before leaving behind a present, which had promptly exploded, destroying the heavy cruiser nearest it, and even damaging the Battle Barge, a half mile away.

At that point, Halcon had been on the point of retreating to the last colonised planet, and awaiting reinforcements. Unfortunately for him, both the Blood Ravens and Imperial Guard detachments attached to the Crusade had recommended a chase, and he, foolishly, had accepted.

Okay, one chapter complete, and you still don't know much about the Draconis Rex, apart from their name, their Galactic Ranking, and the fact that they like sticking flashy lights on their vehicles. Don't worry; you'll be seeing a lot more in the next chapter. And they won't be best pleased. Feel free to leave reviews, and if you have any advice on my Latin/High Gothic, it would be much appreciated.


	2. A Bad Time For All, Then

**Chapter 2: A Bad Time For All, Then**

And here is the second chapter of the Tale of Two Stars. I'm sure by now most of you will have realised that it will actually involve many stars, but the only two of any importance to this story are Iphaes, the star around which the planet Draconikus orbits, and Sol, the star around which, well, I'm sure you can guess.

Unbeknownst to General Halcon, Space Commander Dar'Ell was not having the best of times either. The instant he had established both the Draconis Rex Haegemony and the Draconic Spacefleet, Dar'Ell had promptly spent his entire Empire's Treasury on a new paintjob for his flagship, the Draconis Imperialis. This had, of course, raised concern about his fitness to be in charge on the home planet of Draconikus, but these concerns had been tenuously smoothed over by the fact that he had, after all, singlehandedly created the Empire, Haegemony, and Spacefleet. But the public review had been scathing, to say the least.

Then he had found out that the cause of the relative calm from the centre of the galaxy had been due to the Grox building up a massive armada that had swept through many of the inner systems, and decimated the central empires. If it wasn't for Dar'Ell coaxing the Haegemony together, even the Spacefleet may not have been enough to stop them. They had stopped it, finally, on the very lip of a wormhole that led straight to the outskirts of the Draconis Rex Empire. Even so, a great number of Grox raiding parties had made it through, and Dar'Ell and his fleet had been kept busy for many weeks by pleas for help and reconstruction.

Then, after that entire harrowing episode, something interesting happened. System after system fell, and empire after empire stopped crying out for help. This would normally indicate a Grox incursion, except that whatever it was, was heading straight for the galactic core. Checking the logs, he had thought it may be a new, war faring empire, claiming its stake amongst the stars. But the records showed no signs of intelligent life from that sector; at least none anywhere near the Space Age. So, Dar'Ell reasoned, it had to be that a member race of the Haegemony had developed some new weapon, and then the planet it was developed on had revolted, and was now carving a bloody path through the galaxy.

However, the Draconis Rex liked to believe that they had left their warrior like tendencies back on Draconikus, and so Dar'Ell had gone to meet this splinter faction with nothing but his own ship to defend him. And he had met, what was it? The Imperium of Man. Granted, the Rex had encountered violent races before, but their empires had either grown content after a few small conquest, or fractured after growing too large (Or, of course, challenged the Rex and been ruthlessly exterminated). But this Imperium had done neither. It was obviously a huge empire, as it had come from another galaxy! The resources a unified Galactic Empire like that could field would have to be immense!

He had been told, right to his face, that they wanted the death of all non-Men. Even the Wubble Empire, religious fanatics that they were, had only waged a war of conversion on the Draconis Rex people. And this Imperium wanted the death of every other race in the Universe. Multiverse, if the latest theorists were right. Well, obviously he had retreated. Facing down ships of that size and number, without knowing beforehand how to deal with them, and without backup, was suicide. And the cloning procedure was starting to become painful, so many times had Dar'Ell been through it. And of course, to prevent them tracking his route of departure, he had had to distract them somehow. Seeing how big those ships were, neither he nor any of his crew believed the Planet Buster had been overkill in any form.

Thinking all this through, Dar'Ell started pulling up contact details on his personal computer. And was disappointed to find that the entire Spacefleet had been hired out on tasks. Cancelling their next appointment in favour of an emergency defence session, Dar'Ell had an idea. The Seeyid Empire had been the Rex's official Prefects in the Galactic North for quite some time, and were even considered by many to be the Rex's closest allies. What many forgot was that, centuries ago, the Draconis Rex had created the Seeyid, so of course the two Empires were close. And, as they had been loyal Prefects for many years now, the Seeyid wanted to be elevated above the other members of the Haegemony, to the rank of Rex Regis. This would effectively make them the second in command of the Haegemony, and rulers of the Galactic North.

Knowing all this, Dar'Ell sent them a message. To attain this most vaunted title of Rex Regis, they must first quell the disturbance in their neighbouring spiral arm. They may take as many ships as they wish from the other Empires to do so. It would not be in their best interests to fail.  
After sending this message, Dar'Ell wriggled his cilia in what equated to a smile. The Seeyid would not fail them. Not with all that at stake.

A little tidbit of info about the Iphaes system, just for all you who are dying of curiosity. It is at the centre of the bit of space that is known as the Draconis Rex Empire, politically and near enough spatially as well. It has four planets. Working inwards from the outermost are : Sanguinas ( A paradise [T3] planet with three heavily defended cities, so named because sky water, and earth are the colour of blood. It has a very large GDF [Global Defence Force] and exports yellow spice), Draconikus ( The beating heart of the Draconii Empire, with ten heavily defended cities, and a huge GDF. Its natural resource is red spice, but, being the heart of a huge interstellar empire, all its citizens are swamped with any type of spice you care to name.), Terraguay (A large, lush, jungle planet, which has recently been designated a Wildlife Preserve. There used to be a space shuttle wreck from a nearby extinct empire on it, but the Relic Preservation Council can't seem to find it.) Frethous ( An uninhabitable gas giant.) However, orbiting Draconikus is its moon, Portobello Moon. This is also a paradise planet, however, to clear the space around Draconikus, Portobello has been designated the only allowed market for Draconikan spice. This has created a huge market culture on the moon, and, naturally, the only yellow spice that seems to make it to Draconikus is Portobellan and small amounts of Sanguinasion. Fortunately for the empire, the merchants of Portobello never seem to want a holiday, for if they did, not only would Draconikus grind to a halt amidst spice protests, but the Empire's treasury would also take a huge hit, as the Spacefleet takes a commission for the transport of spice around the Empire (and mainly to Portobello).

Anyone who actually read all of the above, well done, go and grab yourself a biscuit. But before you do, don't forget to give me a review, to tell me all about your devotedness to my fic.


	3. Climbing the Ladder

Sorry for the delay. Exam season is in full swing, and I haven't bee able to devote as much time as I like to my stories. Don't worry, another two weeks, and I should be free for the Muse to inspire me again. Also, about my races, the pictures should be up soon, and the link to them will come with the next chapter, at the latest. Also, due to the loss of my original race on Spore, thanks to the computer eating it. I have made minor changes to the race in the story. Nothing that will affect the story itself, just some minor descriptions and such.

The Seeyid Praetor looked up from his desk when he heard the message; Grade One message received. Only two races in the entire galaxy had authority enough to send a grade one. His own and his lord and masters, the Draconis Rex.

Standing up quickly, he brushed down his uniform and glanced in a mirror. Staring back at him was a devilishly handsome example of Seeyid High Command staff. With his yellow fur smoothed down to perfection, and his open toed boots boosting his height to a rather imposing 3"2, he noticed rather irritably that his uniform was a bit messed up. The black officers jacket was creased, with its gold trim making anything but the straight, sharp edges it was supposed to. His gold scrubbers on his shoulders appeared rather tired, and had lost their gleam. The small, sharp claws jutting out from the end of his stubby fingers had the filth of three days ground combat still stuck under them. He was, he thought to himself, barely presentable, in spite of his natural beauty. Still, that's what happens when a Grox armada descends upon you without warning. You ignore the ceremony, in favour of getting the job done. As ready as he could get in ten seconds, the Praetor turned and marched smartly towards the Council Chambers.

"Praetor Spar Kee, to see High Chairman, in reference to communications from the Draconis Rex Empire." Announced the guard on the inside of the door. Everyone walking out of it suddenly found something to do inside the Chambers. Spar almost turned round and struck the guard, but thought better of it. A soldier does not bring harm to those he serves with. No matter how annoying an officious prig they may be.

Swiftly, he strode towards the Chairman, and requested a private audience.  
"Now, Praetor. I should think you know better than that." Admonished the Chairman. "To maintain the tranquillity of our empire, knowledge must be available to those who seek it. Now, carry on with your report."  
"Very well, sir. Approximately ten minutes ago, we received a communiqué from the Draconis Rex, requesting we go investigate, and if necessary, quell the disturbance in our neighbouring spiral arm."  
"And how much were we to be given upon completion of this task?"  
"The communiqué specified that we were not going to receive monetary payment, as we were being allowed access to Haegemony Fleet Privileges for the duration of this mission. However," Stated Praetor Spar, before the council member could interrupt him. "The message did say that, upon successful completion of the mission, we were to be elevated to the rank of Rex Regis."  
"And for this, all we must do is return the harmony of the galaxy? Well, Praetor, you have your orders. Carry them out."  
"Yessir!"  
"Oh, and Praetor?"  
"Yes, sir?"  
"Don't fail this mission."  
"No, sir."

And with that, the Seeyid officer marched off, not noticing the grin on his superiors face.  
"Rex Regis? This is cause for celebration. Council members! Meeting! Private chambers! Now!"

Rather short chapter I know, but it introduces the Seeyid race, who, strangely enough, look a lot like a certain primate out of those films about the ice age. I wonder what could be happening?


	4. Corporations Complicate Everything

**Okay, I'm not going to lie; I have a problem with deadlines. Also, as said before, these stories are an outlet for my stress. Hence, no stress, no stories. But, finally, on with it.**

Dar'Ell was currently bored out of his skull. Sat behind his desk at the center of the Space Fleet Central Command meeting chambers, he listened as hundreds of captains, admirals, and corporate representatives argued about the possibility of the temporary withdrawal of services of the Spacefleet 1st Armada; the people who protect the space lanes within the borders of the Empire. Without these essential escorts, argued the representatives, their traders would be vulnerable to pirate raiders. And who would answer their cries for help when a merchant trade force arrived at a planet, and demanded their supplies of spice?

Dar'Ell made his displeasure known by roaring at the assembled peoples. "Quiet!!" Silence reigned supreme, almost instantly. "Perhaps I did not make myself clear originally. There is no possibility of services being withdrawn." There was a collective sigh of relief from the corporate people. "The word possibility indicates something may or may not happen. It is a certainty that we will have to suspend all contractual operations for the time being. This is due –" The wave of disgruntled murmurs crashed into a roaring. Dar'Ell sighed. Then, taking a deep breath, he screeched at the top of his lungs. This was no normal screech. This was a screech honed by millennia of evolution to be the most painful, disorientating screech any creature can hear. Even for those who were unable to hear the full polyphonic glory of that screech, the subsequent explosion of glassware caught their attention sufficiently.

"Thank you. The reason for this is simple. There is an enemy fleet of unknown size and origin, bearing down on the galactic core. Due to their simple goal of annihilating all life other than themselves, they have cleared a significant portion of the arm they are following. Because of their predictable path, those empires who took heed of their neighbour's deaths withdrew their troops from active service, an act which weakened our armed forces, and failed to slow the advance of this enemy. The enemy have proven that they can defeat the Grox easily, so, with them heading for the densest cluster of wormholes in the galaxy, we must surely worry about the eventual destination of this menace. With several wormholes within the borders of the Empire proper, and holding a complete monopoly on Wormhole Systems, we are soon to see what they can do to a Rex held system. And even if the Haegemony Fleet does prove successfull in stopping them, there are still colonies to worry about. Each colony will be able to field their own defense craft, and call for aid from the home planet. Not to mention, the un-colonised systems in their wake are left inhospitable husks of their former selves, with NO DEFENCES! They have left a corridor systems wide completely defenceless against Grox invasions. For the first time in decades, star systems are having to deal with the very likely threat of a Grox incursion, with no prior warning! So, in answer to your questions, the 1st Armada is preparing for a war of retribution, and we shall be drafting in the Third Imperial Reservists to perform critical duties. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a battle group to prep."

Turning to leave, a group of media hounds ambushed him.  
"Considering your involvement in the recent Treasury scandal, is it not convenient that, once your unlimited spending powers are revoked, a large homicidal force appears that needs them to be reinstated?"

"Considering the allegations filed against you, some of which the people do not fell have been cleared sufficiently, do you really feel that you are the best person to be leading the offensive?"

Buffeting the press hounds out of the way, Dar'El spread his wings and leapt into the air. Headed straight for an open window, he managed to escape the conference, and the media frenzy waiting for him outside the front of the building. Flying fast, he also made it through a maze of sharp turns and alleys, until he found himself back at his office, having shaken off the following reporters. Hopping gratefully onto the chair, he attempted to relax.

Smash!

Opening his eyes, he found that he had just put his fist through his desk.

_How dare they! How dare they question my capability as a commander! Have I not managed to win wars against several empires with but a single ship? Have I not traversed the space lanes, thwarting numerous raiders, by myself? Okay, fine, maybe I did over-indulge a little after my success. Maybe it did go to my head a bit. But was the government not supposed to keep a check on things like this? Was there not a department of the Treasury, or some such? And why, in the name of all that was good, am I filling in request forms that are sent off, to be approved by an official, if they let me buy anything I want? For that matter, if I can buy so much on a government tab, why are colonies of the Empire charging ME such exorbitant prices? Surely I should just get it free? After all, even after the Planetary Governor and System Lord Government model had been adopted, everyone was still under the same government, right? So why do I even need to PAY money for what was, in effect, a new paint job?_

_And what was that about a new threat appearing at a convenient time? Why could those pampered fools not understand that the Haegemony was always under threat? There are unconquered sections of the Galaxy. Little progress has been made in even exploring the Galactic West, and those few colonies that are there (mainly because they are right outside a wormhole, so are needed to defend it) spend more time shooting stuff out of their space than they do trading with the rest of the Haegemony. There are the Grox, who, despite failing to protect the central wormhole, still occupy large areas of the mid-galaxy. There are even rumours of them sending 'colony' groups off into distant sectors, probably to set up reserve production facilities for when the core gets liberated from their tyranny. Both of these threats require a full scale Galactic Crusade, not just a sub-fleet or two, not a full Fleet, nor even a combination of the Imperial Spacefleet and Haegemony Fleet, but a dedicated force of such magnitude that my recent spending spree would look non-existent by comparison. And even then, even if all goes well, it would still take decades, maybe centuries of war to tame the Wild West, and dismantle the Grox operation. And this new threat is convenient? How? Since when do Galactic Ranking threats rate as 'convenient', in any context?_

Calming himself, Dar'El forced himself to do some tedious paperwork. Strangely, the first piece on his desk was somewhat related to the need for a Crusade into the West. One of their more distant System Lords, in what appears to be the westernmost colonised system (There are others, he knew, but they were all military colonies in systems just beyond the Galactic Rim, none of which are public knowledge) had sent a combat encounter report. One of the more common 'visitors' to their system, a species of centaurs that wear enough armour to classify their regular infantrymen as tanks, had been detected approaching their system with the usual sized attack fleet. Bfore even reaching the system, it had turned around and sped away. Shortly afterwards, they had received a distress call from a colony of that empire. It suffered from heavy interference, but spoke of 'a green tide...flying meteors....savage monstrosities....failing'. There was also an unrelated notice of vastly increased numbers of asteroids flying past the system, probably coming in from the Void. Dar'El laughed. He laughed loud and long. There was a new threat in the West. There were always threats in the West, the only thing new was that this one also seemed to consist of homicidal maniacs. How coincidental.

**By the way, it has just occurred to me that, in some cases, certain items are not physiologically compatible with certain creatures. So, when words like 'chair' are used by a creature that has short legs, a hunchback (sort of) and wings, it may not be a 'chair' as we know and recognise them, but that species' equivalent of a chair. Also, do please R+R. As some of you may have guessed, this story, and Reignlief's A Legend of Two Stars are in direct competition. Whose story do you think is better? Review, and let us know. **


	5. RIP This Fic

Quite frankly, I will be surprised if there is anyone left to actually read this. That, of course, is my own fault – I haven't exactly been the most prolific of authors. Still, I am not the sort of person to leave 'on hiatus' signs on a story – if it's dead, I'll mark it as such. And this is the official tombstone for the story. I'll admit, writing this was fun, and getting feedback from people saying how much they enjoyed it was awesome.

Life, however, dislikes me. Or at least, it enjoys messing with me. Most of my stories, I wrote in the later years of secondary school. College applied the pressure, and something had to give. That something was my fanfiction (swiftly followed by my games consoles and my tv). University also hasn't allowed me time to put my few remaining ideas to Word.

Ignoring that fact, we also have the problem that it has been a good number of years since I have had access to the source material for the majority of my fics. How am I supposed to take inspiration from something when I am seeing no new releases, and no new derived works? So, unfortunately, I have seen other things, and sometimes been inspired by them, and have slowly lost contact with this fandom.

Regrettably, it is unlikely I will gain access to the source material again in the future, and even if I did, I already look on my current works with horror (turns out, reviewing fics is almost as instructional as being reviewed), and I can see which sins against fiction I have committed myself.

Anyway, I was just posting this so that all you who are still watching this story may know that I am, regrettably, cancelling it.


End file.
